This book analyses the distribution and utilisation of the water of the Euphrates and Tigris river system from the perspective of international law. It shows which international treaties and provisions of international customary law regulating the non-navigational use of international freshwater systems are binding for the riparian states, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, and how the distribution and utilisation of the waters of the river system are governed by these. this study uses two Turkish dams - the Atatürk Dam on the Euphrates and the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris - to illustrate which provisions of international law are binding and what problems arise concerning the application of these principles.